Getting started with the LMS

Getting started with the LMS

The LMS delivers training, tracks who has completed what, and certifies it. Content is organised in a fixed hierarchy, and understanding that hierarchy is most of understanding the module.

Where: LMS You need: LMS rights — team learning and content building are separate from taking a course

The hierarchy

learning path  →  course  →  module  →  content or assessment
LevelIs
Learning pathA programme of courses, with a difficulty and a status
CourseA subject within the path
ModuleA single lesson
Module contentThe material — a paragraph, a document, a video or an external link
Module assessmentAn optional test at the end of a module

Courses sit in paths in a defined order, and modules sit in courses in a defined order. That ordering is what makes a path a programme rather than a folder of material.

The two sides of the module

ForWhere
My LearningLearners taking coursesLMS › My learning
Team LearningManagers and administrators — building content, enrolling people, tracking progressLMS › Team learning

How enrolment works

An enrolment connects a learner to a learning path, and it records where they have got to:

StatusMeans
Not startedEnrolled, no progress
In progressUnder way
CompletedFinished

Each module within it carries the same three states, so progress is visible per lesson rather than only per path.

Enrolments have a source — either admin (someone assigned it) or self (the learner chose it). That distinction is worth keeping in mind when reading completion rates: mandatory training and optional training are different things, and the source is how you tell them apart.

Where to go next

Taking courses

Building content

Managing

What Happens Next

  • Enrolled learners see their paths in My Learning.
  • Progress is recorded per module as they work through.
  • Completing a path can issue a certificate, if one is configured.

Tips

  • Design the path before building modules. The order is the curriculum, and reordering after people have started is disruptive.
  • Keep modules short. One idea per module works far better than one long module per subject, and progress tracking becomes meaningful.
  • Decide what is mandatory and assign it as an admin enrolment, so completion rates mean something.
  • Do not put the only copy of anything important in an external link. Links rot, and a path is only as durable as its content.

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